A WARRNAMBOOL teenager was yesterday sentenced to serve 18 months in a youth justice centre after he pleaded guilty to 17 aggravated burglaries.
In what a magistrate described as a rampage, the youth, who cannot be named, claimed he tried to break into every house in Merrivale Drive.
The magistrate said the offences centred on residential properties, but the Premix King and the East Warrnambool milk bar were also targets.
He said the offenders entered homes at night and stole property while the occupants slept.
The magistrate said aggravated burglary was one of the most serious offences which could be heard by the court.
He said people were left feeling unsafe in their own homes, locked their doors and were afraid to go to bed as the rampage gained notoriety.
The youth pleaded guilty to 49 charges including aggravated burglary and the theft of goods valued at $15,000. Only about $2000 worth of goods have been recovered.
The stolen property, including laptop computers, mobile telephones and cameras, were sold to other youths and the money raised used to pay for alcohol, cigarettes and some drugs.
A court heard that the youth was involved in a string of aggravated burglaries in Warrnambool and Cobden with two alleged co-offenders, aged 17 years and 19 years.
The 17-year-old has been charged and is on bail, while the 19-year-old is yet to be charged.
The aggravated burglaries started in Merrivale on December 11 with the theft of items worth $1700, including sunglasses, from one home.
The same night three houses were entered with a laptop among goods valued at $3550 stolen from another house, while $80 in cash was taken from a home where a 12-year-old girl slept.
Three nights later binoculars, cash, a computer, mobile phone a camera and wrapped Christmas presents were also taken.
In one home five children were asleep when it was robbed.
On December 30 the youth and his 17-year-old co-offender stole an Esky of alcohol and drank it.
The offending then moved to Cobden where homes were broken into and businesses were burgled.
Goods valued at $1682 were stolen from the Pemix King in Warrnambool on February 8, with another $500 damage caused.
The same amount of damaged occurred at the East Warrnambool shop, which had cigarettes valued at more than $1000 stolen.
On the same night the occupants of a Stanley Street home who became aware someone was in their house saw a person using a mobile phone's light to find his way around.
Police searches on February 26 uncovered stolen goods. The youth claimed to have entered up to 80 homes.
A defence counsel said his client had led a stable life for more than six months while he had a job but he lost the position and returned to a life of crime, which had previously led to two stints in youth justice centres.
The magistrate described the offending as "recreational crime" to raise cash and said this would be the last opportunity for the youth to reform before being treated like an adult.
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